1. Field
The present application relates to pillows. More specifically, the present application is directed to a sound pillow sleep system having a pillow with a speaker assembly and a method of manufacturing the pillow with the speaker assembly.
2. Brief Discussion of Related Art
Tinnitus is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound. Tinnitus is a condition that can result from a wide range of underlying causes, such as, neurological, infectious, allergenic, foreign object or wax build-up in the ear, exposure to noise, as well as myriad other causes.
Hearing loss can be accompanied by tinnitus. While tinnitus can result from natural/congenital hearing loss, the most common cases of tinnitus are a result of loud noise, which often induces a level of hearing loss. Some researchers have found that frequencies tinnitus sufferers cannot hear as a result of their hearing loss are similar to subjective frequencies that the sufferers hear as a result of their tinnitus. These frequencies tend to be higher-end frequencies.
Invariably, rest and especially sleep are among a body's/mind's numerous mechanisms for natural healing from the physical and nervous assaults that the body/mind endured throughout the previous day. In many cases, tinnitus sufferers, as well as other individuals who experience sleep disorders for any number of reasons (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, insomnia, and/or other reason), cannot take advantage of such relaxation or healing sleep because their tinnitus or other sleep disorder(s) makes falling asleep or staying asleep extremely difficult. As a result these people suffer unrelentingly or are relegated to medications that can have significant adverse side effects.
Conventional pillows, which include a pillow casing and fill material, are known in the art and they have not undergone significant changes in the many years of pillow making. While there have been attempts to incorporate speaker assemblies into specialty pillows made of elastically-deformable (e.g., foam) materials that can secure the speaker assemblies, such integration into conventional pillows has met with difficulties. Specifically, it is difficult to integrate a speaker assembly into a conventional pillow because the fill material cannot secure the speaker assembly effectively, which increases the likelihood of the speaker assembly shifting from desired orientation during operation.
There exists a need in the art to provide a sound pillow sleep system having a pillow that secures a speaker assembly in a desired orientation in relation to the pillow casing and the fill material of the pillow to reduce the potential for shifting of the speaker assembly from the desired orientation and to improve the focusing of the speaker assembly output toward the head/ears of a tinnitus or sleep deprivation sufferer, while providing masking of tinnitus to facilitate comfortable, restful and therapeutic sleeping for a tinnitus sufferer and at the same time mitigating sleeping disruption to the sufferer's significant other who may be in proximity of the pillow.